Texas Eastern Transmission Planning Natural Gas Pipeline Capacity Expansion

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Texas Eastern Transmission, LP (Houston Texas) is in the regulatory phase of a capacity expansion on its natural gas pipeline. Texas Eastern intends on expanding capacity on its system by 193 mmscfd by constructing 31.95-miles of 36" diameter pipeline in three separate loops and perform up-rates at four existing compressor stations.

The construction will be spread across the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Total compression will increase by 28,000 horsepower by replacing the existing gearboxes with mechanical variable-speed drives. The FERC gave Texas Eastern preliminary approval for the $66 million M-1 Expansion Project in the forth quarter of 2002 and a final Certificate is expected to be issued in the second quarter of 2003 with construction to begin soon afterward. 536.4 acres of land will be utilized for the new construction of which 93.5 will be retained as permanent right-of-way and the balance of 442.9 acres will be restored and returned to former use.

Click on the image at right to view the Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline Expansion Details Table.

Texas Eastern plans to phase in the new capacity between November of 2003 and November of 2004. Carolina Power & Light, Choctaw Gas Generation, LLC and the City of Cartersville are the three new shippers the capacity expansion is designed to serve.

Texas Eastern Transmission, LP is unit of Duke Energy Gas Transmission, which in turn is a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte North Carolina). The 9,088-mile Texas Eastern pipeline system has a daily capacity of 5.9 Bcf and storage facilities for 75.1 Bcf of natural gas.

Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company and employs over 25,000 people. In the US Duke Energy is the largest producer of NGL's and is a top tier gas & power marketer.